December 7, 2017

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Duolingo podcasts are a casual way to learn a new language

by John_A

Duolingo is moving beyond gamifying language learning and into podcasts. The first season focuses on simple-to-understand Spanish-language stories. But they aren’t fiction. The first episode is about a boy who loves soccer (football to the rest of the world) and his local Mexican team getting promoted to Division One. The podcast has a NPR feel to it, which is probably because it’s hosted by Martina Castro, who co-founded the broadcaster’s Radio Ambulante series.

CEO Luis von Ahn told VentureBeat that the idea is to bolster peoples’ comprehension wherever they’d typically listen to podcasts. If you want a preview of what’s on offer before you download it, there’s a transcript available. You an listen via the Duolingo app, and you can also find it on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, SoundCloud and plenty of other places.